


Of Ill Behaved Pokemon and Smitten Trainers

by SassQueen_x



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Canon, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Pokemon Johto Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 06:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17278943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassQueen_x/pseuds/SassQueen_x
Summary: AU: Who thought Pokemon could be match makers? At first, Gary curses his luck for Arcanine teaching Eevee to come out of her pokeball, or stay out of her pokeball, when she pleased. But as the events unfold, he figures that all is not as bad as it seems. Egoshipping.





	1. The Ego Game

_Of Ill Behaved Pokémon and Smitten Trainers: Chapter One_

Gary Oak had every intention of leaving Pallet Town to head off to Johto after his and Ash’s match with Eevee and Pikachu, but there was one problem. What might you ask? Eevee refused to go back in her pokeball, which he thought was rather strange. She was usually really obedient. The spiky-haired teen glanced down at his evolution pokemon, who was peering up at him with affection in her eyes.

“Vee?” She piped up, tilting her little head to the side. Little Eevee just wasn’t quite ready to go back in her pokeball just yet. In fact, she was rather curious about the other people that surrounded them during battle. Ash, Misty and Brock all still stood there, watching the scene unfold before them.

“What is it, Eevee? Are you hungry?” Gary asked, trying to figure out what was going on with her. That was one thing you couldn’t take away from him. Despite how much of an asshole he was when he was younger, he always took exceptional care of his pokemon. Arcanine was spoiled _rotten_. Come to think of it, this was probably where she got the behavior from. The rather large canine would come out of his pokeball any time he pleased. He might have convinced Eevee that it was worthwhile to do so, considering that he got snacks out of it most of the time. A small smile crept onto Gary’s lips as he thought about this. Man, was he in for it if that was the case.

“Eevee!” She closed her eyes and hopped about midair before scurrying off to where Ash and his friends were. She glanced up at her trainer’s rival, much to Pikachu’s curiosity. The electric mouse peered over Ash’s shoulder, letting out a cry of curiosity. But she wasn’t the most curious about Ash, or his companion. She was on her way after that little interaction, padding over to Misty. All the while, his trainer was watching very carefully. What happened next, though, had him rubbing the back of his head, sweatdropping profusely. Eevee made her way over to Misty and proceeded to hop up on her shoulder, giving Togepi a little sniff.

“Toge-Toge-pri!” He chirped in his usual happy tone, bumping his head against Eevee’s nose gently. Misty, on the other hand, was trying to stay as still as she could, not wanting to risk Eevee or Togepi taking a tumble. “Ah! Gary, I think Eevee has made a new friend!” The redhead beamed, and the fox-like creature let out an equally happy chirp as the baby pokemon before her did.

Pikachu watched this and became… dare we say jealous? They _had_ been the ones battling, after all. Ash noticed his companion’s expression and plucked him off his shoulder to gather him in his arms. “Don’t worry, buddy, Eevee must be delusional like its trainer,” he told Pikachu, his gaze narrowing over at Gary with a sly smirk.

Everyone ignored that comment, or at least tried to. It certainly didn’t help make the situation any less awkward. Leave it to Ash to open his big mouth. Brock focused on Eevee for a moment, noting the heart shape to her tail. And suddenly it just made since. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned to Gary, “Oh, I get it now! I think her maternal instincts are coming out. I take it she hasn’t been exposed to baby Pokémon before, has she?”

Gary’s arms dropped from his head and he went to scratch his chin while he considered the question. “Now that you mentioned it, no, she hasn’t,” he paused, peering over to the redhead across from him, “well, would ya look at that, Misty? Guess Eevee wants to see if the baby is being taken care of.” The brunet wore an amused smirk on his face as he headed over to retrieve his Pokémon from her shoulder. Said fluffy number whined, as if she was a child whose parent snatched away a shiny new toy from her, but she snuggled against her trainer’s chest just the same. Gary’s gaze met with Misty’s, probably for a bit too long, if the latter tearing her gaze away abruptly had any indication to the matter.

“C’mon, Eevee, we got quite the journey ahead of us,” he murmured to his Pokémon, scratching her favorite spot between her large ears, prompting a happy coo from Eevee. The trio watched this interaction, not moving an inch from their spots. Who knew Gary Oak of all people could be so _kind_ to another being that wasn’t his ego. Ash peered over his shoulder back to his friends. Brock looked--- well, like Brock. But Misty’s expression made him fume with--- _jealousy_? No, that couldn’t be it. She wasn’t looking at his rival like he was the best thing next to an all-you-can-eat buffet after a long days travel. Because he surely wasn’t _that_ impressive. Both her and Brock had been gushing over how good Gary and Eevee were during battle. With Brock, he understood. He just loved Pokémon and liked seeing a well-established relationship between trainer and their Pokémon but Misty? She would usually call out the flaws of another trainer and not unless he was getting absolutely creamed. In true Ash Ketchum dramatics, he fell to the grass with a substantial thud, causing everyone to look back at him.

Pikachu squeezed himself from between the grass and Ash, glaring at him. Oh, well, at least Misty didn’t have her attention on Gary anymore.

“Okaaaaaaay, Ashy-boy. You alright down there?” Gary asked, heading over to Ash to attempt to help him up.

Ash immediately waved him away, going to wipe the dirt from his faded jeans, “I’m fine. Guess ya better be going, huh?” It was his turn to put his arms behind his head, a grin breaking out across his face.

His rival blinked a couple of times, but stepped back regardless. “Yeah. Just gonna check in with gramps before I leave. Smell ya later,” he spun around on his heels, winking coolly back at the trio--- mostly making eye contact with Misty, though, before he headed back towards the Oak home.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gary immediately regretted his decision in going back to talk to his grandfather, who had promptly invited him to dinner that was being held at the Ketchum residence. Delia, being the hospitable woman that she was, extended the dinner offer to the Oaks, including May Oak, who had been held up in the lab doing research the entire time her brother had been visiting. (Well, she had been _trying_ to do research until Tracey discovered her, and had been since nervously talking her ear off). The dinner wasn’t so bad. The Ketchum kitchen was incredibly packed so he had shoved his elbow into his sister’s stomach any time he went to take a bite to eat, (much to her annoyance). But, other than that, things weren’t all that bad. Misty sat across from him so at least he had something to look at when she wasn’t paying attention—and sometimes when she was. He found it amusing that she would immediately look away, huffing. But the redness creeping in on her cheeks told a completely different story.

After dinner, both Arcanine and Eevee decided to come out of their pokeballs, making their appearance well known. As always, the fox-like creature nestled herself in the warm furs on the back of the canine’s neck, and he just sat there, threatening to break Delia’s knickknacks with his enormous tail wagging back and forth. Gary had sat there for a while, trying to hold a smooth conversation with Misty all the while having to scramble to save the knickknacks. After a while, he made Arcanine go back into his pokeball--- after being bribed with snacks, of course. And before Gary could call back Eevee, he noted that she had found a new spot to rest. Though she was in Misty’s arms now, it was evident that she had her little body curled around Togepi, both of them lolling off for a nap now.

Misty was looking down at the scene in her arms, forcing the urge to coo in the back of her mind, not wanting to disturb them with her high-pitched squeals. Instead, she cocked an eyebrow as Gary took a seat next to her on the couch this time, not having to sit on the other side of the living room watching his big ol’ doggo. Instead of making a sarcastic remark like she wanted to do—her greatest self-defense mechanism to hide the fact that she was just as attracted to Gary as he was to her, she asked a simple question, “are you going to evolve your eevee?”

The brunet, taken aback by the fact that she wasn’t shooting him a glare, or flat-out ignoring him, paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, his gaze veering off to the sleeping Pokémon in question. “Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I? Pokémon evolution is important if you’re striving to be the best,” he boasted, confidence rolling off his tongue naturally. “But,” he added, resting his head against the back of the couch and turning a bit so he could face Misty, “only when she’s ready. I’ve heard horror stories about evolving your Pokémon too soon.”

This reminded her of the Eevee Brothers her and her friends encountered years ago. The redhead still feels a bit of guilt that she was prepared to make Mikey’s eevee evolve as soon as she found out that it had indeed been left behind. She still _really_ wants a vaporeon one day. Oh, well. A girl can dream. She snapped out of her own thoughts, realizing that Gary was looking at her, waiting for her to say something. A blush crept on her face, something she hoped he wouldn’t notice being this close. “Me, Brock and Ash ran into these brothers, once. They were _all_ about evolution. The older brothers each had an evolution of eevee, all except for one. He was the youngest, and he wanted to be an eevee trainer,” Misty sighed fondly, “jolteon, vaporeon and flareon were beaten to a pummel by Team Rocket and—it was Mikey’s eevee that saved all of us. So yeah, I do think there are repercussions to early evolution,” she went on to explain.

They continued talking like this for quite a while. It was a miracle that Ash didn’t try and butt in. He actually didn’t try to bother them at all. Probably too busy ogling over May, Gary considered with a cringe. A moment or two of silence was all the fourth Sensational Sister needed. She was already comfortable (she found Gary’s presence to be irritatingly comfortable) not to mention warm, due to Eevee and Togepi’s combined body heat while they slept, and she had ended up passing out on him, her head propped up against his shoulder. This Pallet Trainer didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he was getting kind of tired himself. A little shut eye didn’t kill anybody, right?

But, apparently, this wasn’t in the cards for either of them tonight. May came rushing in, flopping down on the arm chair her brother once sat at. This woke everyone up, including Eevee and Togepi. The former stretched as she was coming to, peering up at how close Gary and Misty were sitting now.

“Evah,” she announced sleepily, slipping down to her trainer’s lap. His hands immediately caught her and began absent-mindedly stroking her fur. Gary had never been asleep, anyhow. He just had his eyes closed before little sis decided to make her presence known. Peering over at Misty, who had taken a moment to comprehend what was going on, immediately jerked away from the brunet, as if his shoulder had burned her.

“You left a little drool,” he teased in a whisper, nudging the redhead a bit before turning to his sister. “Bad night, huh? Tell me, how does it feel to have the irresistible Oak charm?” Gary asked, all the while keeping an eye on a panicked Misty, who was furiously wiping away the drool from her mouth. The elder Oak sibling figured that his sister’s dramatic flop was due to the fact that she had not only Ash but now Tracey fawning over her. No _wonder_ why the former offered to stay and help out their grandfather. You just can’t resist the Oak gene; a well known fact, for sure. Just look at Misty, for instance. Trying oh so hard to resist, but failing just as hard.

“Ha ha, very funny _bro_ ,” she responded in a mocking tone. Had his eevee not been cuddling up to him right now, May would be up and smacking the crap out of her brother for sure. She propped an elbow up on the arm of the chair, blowing away a dark tendril that got in the way of her glaring at her brother--- losing all the effect of being menacing. “Ash wanted to play board games and Tracey wanted to pick my brain—and then promptly draw it all out,” she pouted just a little bit, “but grandpa won’t leave. I’ve been pleading for _hours_.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t mention Brock. He’s always after the pretty girls,” Misty finally piped up, having gathered all of her wits back.

“Brock? He’s a sweetie, never once hit on me,” May commented, throwing her hair over her opposite shoulder now. Misty, in response, felt her jaw hit the floor. Well that--- that wasn’t possible. Even _if_ Professor Ivy shot him down hard enough, he still wouldn’t fail to hit on another woman.

So, the three of them chatted for a little while. Ash came in about midway, wondering where May had gone to. Apparently, she had said that she was taking a bathroom break. And that was about thirty minutes ago. And when Ash was basically ignored, he just sprawled out on the floor, Pikachu sitting on his chest. Misty and Gary had gradually gotten closer to each other again, not taking too much notice to it. But when the latter finally did notice it, he casually draped his arm over the back of the couch, his fingertips not too far from the redhead’s shoulders. Either she was too tired to care, or she really didn’t mind it.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was about eight that evening when the Oaks were preparing to say their goodbyes. The trainers had an early start in the morning and Delia had insisted on them getting as much rest as they could, politely sending the visitors away. Much to May’s surprise, Tracey wasn’t staying with the Ketchums. She was staying with _them_. Plastering a smile on her face, she prepared herself for the inevitable. Okay, it wasn’t that bad. Not really. She was just… well, a drama queen, which her brother called her countless times growing up. Tracey wasn’t that bad. He was cute. A bit quirky, but cute.

Gary was about to say something to Misty when her pokegear started chiming from her backpack. She held up a finger towards the spiky-haired teen and scurried over to her bag, raising an eyebrow at the fact that it was Lily calling her. Finding it odd, she wasted no time in answering.

“Hello?”

_“Misty, like where are you?”_

Typical Lily. Misty rolled her eyes. “In Pallet. Me, Ash and Brock are heading off to Johto in the morning. Why?”

_“We need you here, Misty! Like, the trainers are coming out of the woodworks. We could really like, use a hand.”_

Gary watched Misty, this time that much closer. If her sisters needed her here….

She worried her lower lip between her teeth, not really knowing what to say at first. She really was enjoying some time away from the gym, doing her own thing. But, she paid close attention to Lily. Her purple eyes were dull, not the vibrant color she remembered the last time she saw them. “Alright,” she agreed with a sigh, “I’ll head back to town tomorrow morning. Get some rest, okay?” Misty gave her sister a small smile before ending the call.

Gary was impressed, to say the least. Sacrificing time for herself, just to help her sisters out. But, honestly, he couldn’t say that he wouldn’t do the same for his sister or grandfather--- no matter how much he complained initially. The next thing he knew, words were coming out of his mouth that not even he saw coming.

“Need a ride?”

She looked back at him, perplexed. “Aren’t you going to Johto in the morning?”

“I can put it off, just a little bit longer,” he told her with a wink. “I’ll pick you up, say around seven?” Then before Misty could even object, he was taking his sister by the arm, leading her out of the room. Their grandfather was probably nodding off on the front porch, waiting for them so they could walk back.

Misty just watched Gary leave, completely locked in a trance. He went from spoiled little brat to a Charming Casanova in just a matter of years. As soon as she tore herself out of her own head, she blinked, noticing that Brock had been trying to talk to her this whole time.

Well, things were going to be interesting from here on out.


	2. The Ego Competition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gary goes out of his way to give Misty a lift to Cerulean City, but will the dynamic duo set their egos aside and give in to what they really want?

_Of Ill Will Behaved Pokemon and Smitten Trainers- Chapter Two: The Ego Competition_

The next morning, Misty was up before any of the typical bird pokemon you would hear squawking at this time. Heck, she could barely even make her way through the house without bumping into anything, it was so dark. Dear Arceus… if she wakes _anyone_ up with her half-awake, half-asleep shenanigans, she would rather have the life drained from her by a Golbat. Okay--- maybe that was just a bit extreme. She would wake up and move more fluidly after she had her morning coffee. Maybe that was why she was so cranky with the guys when they would go out on their adventures. Misty and her sisters were coffee drinking fools. You kind of had to be when you ran a Pokémon Gym, right? There was no telling how late you were going to be up. The nighttime stragglers were sure to approach, sooner or later. Not to mention the legal paperwork. That could take hours. The redhead groaned under her breath. Oh how she didn’t miss that. While her sisters always took care of the legal stuff, Misty dealt with her fair share of trainers. And now that she was sixteen? She was sure that her sisters would dump literally _everything_ on her. Maybe even go out on a cruise or something while she sat and suffered.

Why was she up so early you might ask? Well, for one, she could barely sleep last night. And two, she wanted to have herself well prepared for this drive back home. From Pallet to Cerulean took at least an hour and a half, sometimes two if there were enough people on the road. Not to mention the fact that Gary oh-so-willingly offered to take her in the first place. She felt like the least she could do was make him something to eat. And bring him coffee if she could find another coffee cup that Ms. Ketchum wouldn’t miss for a day. So here we go again. Trying to be _very_ quiet as she rummaged through the cabinets. Much to her delight, there was a stack of Styrofoam cups. She snagged two and shut the door. Now. breakfast. Misty wasn’t much of a cook. It was always either Ash’s mom, Brock, or one of her sisters who did all of the cooking prior to this. Maybe she could snag some granola bars and call it a day….

She groaned a bit. No, that wouldn’t be right. For someone to go out of their way, especially considering Gary was planning on going to another region entirely today, she felt that it was only right if she put a little bit more effort into it. That was all this was, right? No alterative motive.

Okay, so she had a bit of a crush. But she also had a bit of a crush on Ash too, but you didn’t see her going to all of this work for him! Misty wondered if maybe the reason why she put more work into doing things for Gary than she did for Ash was because—well, her best friend didn’t show any interest in her. At least not like that. But she saw the way Gary was looking at her last night. It was plain as day to see. She pressed against the counters, lost in thought for a moment as she tried to put a plan into action. Then, another thought crossed her brain. What if the smell of food woke the whole house up…?

Suddenly, those granola bars were starting to look like a much better option. The redhead opted to make the coffee first, and then decide on what to do food-wise. She made enough for half a pot, not wanting to subject Ms. Ketchum to old coffee when she woke up later that morning—see, she was thoughtful to everyone—not just…

What if Gary didn’t really like her? What if he was just using her? It didn’t seem too far-fetched. He had a pretty colorful list of women already in his short life. Or at least that was how Ash explained it anyways. He _could_ be over exaggerating, as he tended to do. Misty ran a hand across her face. She didn’t need this stress on top of the stress she was under about going home. The sound of the coffee pot brought her out of her inner monologue, and she quickly filled up the two cups, cursing under her breath as she spilled some all over her shirt. _Great._

“Mr. Mime!” Misty heard as Ms. Ketchum’s precious Mimey poked his head around the corner.

Double great.

“Mr. Mime, go back to sleep. I’ll be leaving soon. Just taking some things with me,” she told the clown pokemon, not wanting him to get too overzealous and wake up the entire house with his loud voice.

All of a sudden, a flash of red light appeared right in front of her. She knew it only meant one thing. And this morning, she had half the mind to strangle that dumb duck.

“Psy?” He tipped his chin up to look at Misty, looking as clueless as ever.

Granola bars and coffee it is. It was going to be time consuming enough to rein Psyduck back into his pokeball. The redhead took a hearty gulp of her coffee before setting it back down, sending her psyduck a glare. That was all it took. The chase was on. Misty struggled to keep quiet as she ran down the halls, trying to grab that duck so much as by the tail and pull him over to her. If this was a precursor to how the rest of the day was going to go, all hell was surely going to break loose.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Gary pulled up to the Ketchum residence at exactly seven o’clock. He tapped his steering wheel in slight annoyance, hoping that she was ready to go. Girls took forever to get ready, it seemed. If he and May were going anywhere, he might as well tell her four hours in advance, ‘cause it would surely take her half of that time to get ready. “ _And I was always the bratty sibling,”_ he thought to himself with a scoff escaping his lips. He sat there for a minute, not seeing any sign of Misty. There was no way that he was getting out of the car. For one, it’s cold. And two, he was still rocking his sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt that he rolled out of bed in. Gary might be one for his appearance but honestly, no one could pull off that outfit and look as good as Gary Oak did right now. (Not that he was tooting his own horn or anything…)

  Another few minutes past and Misty was _still_ nowhere to be seen. He was just about to get out of the car, reaching to unbuckle his seatbelt when he saw the front door come flying open. But there was no sign of her. Just a flying psyduck. But wait. Gary paused, rubbing his eyes some. Was he really that tired? No sooner than he opened his eyes back up, he saw the girl in question come stomping closer, and snatch her psyduck up by the scruff of its neck. Fiddling around in her bag, she pulled out a pokeball and called it back, letting out a relieved sigh when it worked. Then the car door opened and she threw her bag in the passenger seat, but she didn’t get in quite yet. She didn’t even _speak_ to Gary. She just spun around and stomped back towards the house. Now it was his turn to rub a hand across his face. Things could never just go smoothly, could they? Do one nice thing and receive nothing from it but hassle. The psyduck thing, he understood. He could see the annoyance on Misty’s face to know that that wasn’t a part of the plan. But this? Gary leaned down, resting his head against the steering wheel. He could probably get a little meowth nap in and she still wouldn’t be back, but much to his surprise he was greeted with Misty climbing into the car, sporting two cups of coffee.

Her cheeks were puffed up, nothing but pent up rage wanting to come out of her mouth from her hectic morning. She sat the two cups of coffee down and slammed the car door shut, immediately noticing Gary flinch.

“She has feelings too y’know,” he told her, flatly, referring to the car.

“Oh, just shut up and drive,” Misty snapped, resisting the urge to smack him in the back of the head.

They rode in silence as Gary backed up, but there was still that cocky little smirk that he was sporting. And that did nothing but tick his passenger off.

“What’s got your head big today, Gary?” She looked over at him, noting that he _did_ look good in those sweats. They fit his legs perfectly. Her clothes never fit that good! “Better watch out, it might fly out into orbit next,” she added, averting her gaze.

Another ten minutes went by and the two were still relatively quiet. Gary kept his eyes on the road for the most part, sneaking a glance at his favorite redhead now and again. She seemed to be calming down. From the corner of his eye, he caught Misty trying to change his radio station. A hand left the steering wheel, playfully snatching it away from it. The brunet could have sworn that he heard her growl under her breath, which amused him to no end.

“If I can’t change the radio station, you can’t have the coffee I made for you,” she said, as if she were a defiant child trying to get her way. “Or the granola bar,” she crossed her arms over her chest, absolutely _fuming_ at the fact that Gary was now reaching for the untouched coffee and taking a swig of it.

“What kind of granola bar?” He asked, both hands now at the wheel again. He wasn’t going to revel in the fact that Misty’s hands felt incredibly soft in the short time he had it against his. And he certainly wasn’t going to revel in the fact that she looked absolutely adorable pouting over there. He wanted to kiss that pout right off her. But not now, because you know; driving and all. In the meantime, he loved torturing her.

Dainty shoulders gave a rather heavy shrug. “I dunno. It was in a variety pack. If you didn’t notice, I spent most of my morning chasing around a stupid psyduck,” she grumbled something else under her breath that he couldn’t hear, but he still just laughed at her.

Instead of whacking him with her mallet—like she would have loved to do right about now, she just started daydreaming of it. Ah, it was quiet therapeutic, if you asked her. She glanced out her window, planning to tune out whatever nonsense he had to say until she was satisfied with how many mallet smacks he got in that big fat head of his.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

“What changed, Gary?” Misty asked, peering over at his curiously. She had been wondering this ever since she and her friends ran into him at Professor Oak’s. He surely wasn’t the same person he was when they first met. Green eyes met with blue as he met with her gaze for a moment. She was taken aback every time he looked at her. His eyes were such a dark blue that you wouldn’t even know it unless you were up close and personal. All this time and it wasn’t until yesterday that she learned just how striking those eyes were. The redhead collected herself before elaborating further, “you used to never go out of your way for anyone. Not to mention, you were always terrible to Ash. I was just---“

“Remember the Viridian City Gym?” he cut her off, already knowing his answer to her question. Once she gave a nod, Gary continued, “I got creamed. For the first time, I was faced with a challenge that I couldn’t win. And after that… I knew that I needed to better myself. I wasn’t foolin’ anyone, not even myself,” he ran a hand through his hair, eyes glued on the road. It took a lot to admit that. He didn’t even go into the full extent with his family. But they knew him well enough to fill in the blanks.

Wow, he really _had_ changed, Misty considered, glancing down at Togepi, who had only recently woken up and hopped into her arms. He had been napping in her bag for most of the trip. “That takes a lot of guts, admitting your own faults. Believe me, I know,” she paused, hearing him chuckle softly to himself. “When are you leaving for Johto?” the redhead broke the silence a moment later, her own curiosity getting the better of her.

“Well that all depends,” he answered without a beat, that boyish grin gracing his features.

“On what?” Misty asked, fighting the urge to stare at anything _but_ that annoyingly handsome grin on his face. She had to give it to him, he knew how to get under her skin. And, if she assumed right, he was quite proud of it too.

He licked his lips before continuing, all the while driving his passenger beyond crazy, “if you’ll let me take you out on a date first,” he sent her another grin, happy as he could be to see her cheeks redden in response.

Hold on just a second. _The_ Gary Oak was asking her out on a date? She didn’t answer him right away, instead she responded with another question, “is that why you offered to drive me, so you could ask me out?”

Gary just laughed again, gripping the steering wheel in his discomfort. She wasn’t going to turn him down was she? ‘Cause that would be awkward. “Guess you caught me,” he said coolly, shrugging a broad shoulder.

Misty was trying to piece it all together. Why her? Maybe because she didn’t throw herself at him like most girls did? Her arms gathered Togepi tighter and she tipped her chin up, doing her best to look smug while narrowing her gaze at the teen next to her. “Alright, I’ll give you the chance. But it better be the best date you could give a girl. I’ll settle for nothing less, mister.”

A challenge made it all the more thrilling, in his eyes. “Think I can handle that, _Red_ ,” he sent her another melt-worthy wink. Togepi started to chirp happily but the two trainers fell silent for a moment. Gary could tell that Misty was trying to gather her wits about her before replying, not giving him the benefit of the doubt by showing just the effect he had on her. It was… endearing, to say the least.

“Tomorrow night. Pick me up at the gym,” she said, not even realizing that they were already in Cerulean City. It took Gary parking the car before she even noticed anything. In her defense, she _was_ a little preoccupied in her own head.

“Cool. How does six sound?”

Misty was fathomed by the fact that nothing seemed to deter this guy. He was rarely ever caught off guard by anything she had to say, almost like she was an open book. It was irritating, to say the least. But she was determined to get the last jab in. To leave him as flustered as he left her. Instead of answering his question with words, she took her free hand off her baby pokemon and unbuckled her seatbelt. And, with that, her free hand gathered the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him closer to her. Careful not to squeeze Togepi between them, she craned her neck and caught his lips with her own. As expected, it took him a moment to recover, his hand cupping the nape of her neck not nearly as quick as he would have, had he saw this coming.

They pulled away after realizing that breathing was an essential for life and Gary found himself lost for words. Seeing this left Misty feeling pretty proud and she inwardly puffed her chest out in her moment of pride.

“See ya later, _stud_. Oh, and thanks for the ride,” she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder, one hand on the doorknob. But before she could get the door open, Gary grabbed her by the arm and tugged her closer, their lips clashing against each other’s once more. He wasn’t going to let her win this one. Misty pulled away, completely breathless, settling back against her seat for a moment. Where did he learn to kiss like that? It should be illegal. Togepi felt rather violated, having being smashed between the pair not once, but twice.

“Pri!” The egg pokemon called out, peering up at his mother. Misty let out a rather musical laugh, ducking down to kiss her baby pokemon on top of his spiky head. Then her eyes met with Gary’s again, “I better go. See you,” she said as flirtatiously as she could muster.

He let her go with nothing but a half-hearted wave, his back colliding with the seat again. Though he didn’t say anything, his trademark smirk said it all.

At this rate, Misty was in a run for her money. But as she headed back to the gym, she couldn’t come up with a reason why she cared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That about wraps it up, folks! Let me know what you thought, as always.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed. I tried to keep it as silly and light-hearted as the anime. Lemme know what y'all thought!


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